A female religious teacher in Karachi allegedly killed her student and committed suicide after the student's family turned down a marriage proposal from the tutor's brother.

The incident occurred in the North Nazimabad area of the metropolis on Monday.

Nasreen Khalid, 24, used to teach Quran to a teenage girl living in Block-H of the locality.

On Monday evening, the tutor reached the girl’s residence and allegedly opened fire on her before shooting herself, police said.

Police said that the religious tutor had reportedly sought the hand of the girl for her brother, which was refused by the girl’s parents.

Three days ago, the girl was engaged to someone else, which ostensibly infuriated the religious tutor, police added.

DSP Operations West Zone Nasir Bukhari said that the investigators had collected four spent bullet casings fired from a 30-bore pistol. The weapon was recovered from the crime scene.

The girl sustained a bullet wound on her head while the tutor received a bullet injury on her chest.

The officer said police had faced difficulty in shifting the bodies to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital to fulfil legal formalities as the victim’s family said they observed “strict purdah" and would not allow policemen to enter their home or shift the bodies.

Also read: The alarming rise of teenage suicides in Pakistan

Karachi-West DIG Amir Farooqi expressed doubts over the turn of events as narrated by the victim’s family, adding that a post-mortem examination would help to establish the facts.

DIG Farooqi observed that the deceased belonged to Pakhtun families and for respect of sentiments of both the families “we will keep our comments reserved till the time full facts are known”.